School-based mental health programmes for teens analysed
School-based mental health programmes aimed at young people in the later years of second-level can be effective but when "not implemented with high quality, the intended effects of the program are lost", according to new research.
The study, carried out by researchers at NUI Galway, looked at the experiences of hundreds of second-level students at schools around the country.
Titled 'The effects of implementation quality of a school-based social and emotional well-being program on students outcomes', it said: "School-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs can be effective in producing positive outcomes for students.
However, when the implementation quality is poor, these programs often lose their effectiveness and fail to produce the expected positive outcomes.
The research looked at a school-based SEL program for 15-18-year-olds in Ireland and collected outcome data for 675 students from 32 disadvantaged schools at three different points in time.
It focused on MindOut, designed to be delivered by teachers through the Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum to promote the social and emotional well-being of post-primary students over a 13-session programme. It then compared results for high implementation schools, low implementation schools and a control group.
Schools in the high-implementation category had better results when it came to categories such as mental health and wellbeing, and some even had better academic outcomes. According to the research:
A significant difference was found between the high-implementation group compared to the low-implementation group for Attitudes towards School, with the high-implementation group demonstrating more positive attitudes towards school.
The high implementation group again fared better in the 12-month follow-in research taken from participants.
"While the MindOut program was effective in producing positive outcomes for participants, this was only the case in schools that delivered the program to a high standard," it said, noting that only one of the outcomes measured — avoidance coping — was sustained at 12-month follow-up for the high-implementation group, meaning "the program was not able to produce long-term outcomes".
"Thus, after considering implementation, we can conclude that when MindOut is implemented as intended, the program can be successful in producing positive outcomes for participants. However, when the MindOut program is not implemented with high quality, the intended effects of the program are lost."
